Lexington, (Ky.) ? Six Kentucky pitchers combined to hold Louisville to just one run on eight hits as the Wildcats cruised past the Cardinals, 5-1, on Wednesday night at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville. James Rodriquez (2-3) picked up the win in relief for the Cats. Kentucky moved to 17-15 on the season with the win, while the loss dropped the Cards to 18-14.
Justin Scutchfield was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Cats. Louisville native Spencer Graeter enjoyed his homecoming. The Ballard High School product had three hits, scored a run and drove in a run. Another Louisville product, pitcher Craig Snipp, threw two shutout innings in relief for UK, striking out three Cardinal batters.
?We?re glad to get a win like this one tonight,? UK head coach John Cohen said. ?We got a great effort from all of our pitchers and our hitters had a good approach at the plate.?
Kentucky got the scoring started with two runs in the top of the third inning. Justin Scutchfield started the inning with a single and later scored on a Louisville passed ball. Michael Bertram drew a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and came in to score on Spencer Graeter?s single back up the middle, to give UK an early 2-0 lead.
UK stretched its lead to 3-0 in the fifth as Graeter singled to lead off the inning. A costly fielding miscue hurt the Cards when Caleb Stewart struck out with two outs, but reached base on a wild pitch. One batter later Mike Breyman made Louisville pay with a single back up the middle, scoring Graeter from second base.
Louisville loaded the bases in the sixth inning with a single from Ryan McKinnon, a hit by pitch and a Kentucky error, but Rodriquez struck Boomer Whiting out and induced Nick Haley into an inning-ending groundout to escape the threat unscathed.
The Wildcats tacked on two insurance runs in the top half of the ninth when John Shelby led off with a double off the wall and scored on Scutchfield?s double. Joe Naill then singled to bring Scutchfield home and put UK on top, 5-0.
Louisville scored a run and loaded the bases to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but Matt Scott worked out of the jam, getting a ground ball back to himself to thwart the rally and preserve the win for the Wildcats.
Kentucky returns to action on Friday as the No. 6 South Carolina Gamecocks come to Lexington for a three-game Southeastern Conference series. The action gets underway at 6:30 p.m. (ET) on Friday from Cliff Hagan Stadium. All the weekend?s action can be heard on 96.1 FM in Lexington. Live audio and stats of all three contests will be available at www.ukathletics.com.
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